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“No, he wouldn’t risk me getting the better of him,” Hel said. “I was in a small cage, drugged, and surrounded by the hounds.” In a way it was a blessing he was half delirious.

Varlett snapped her head toward him. “You were kept in a cage down here? When? How?”

In the many years Varlett was his… accomplice, he didn’t speak to her about his past. He didn’t share parts of him she could use one day. She knew what was public knowledge and what he planned to do in the future, but he’d never confided in her about his personal feelings. “As if you cared.”

Varlett sneered. “We were friends for a long time, Hel.”

“I don’t think you know what friendship is.” Friends didn’t use each other for mutual gain. Friends trusted each other. Friends cared about the well-being of each other. He didn’t care for her at all. He never really had. She was… useful. Part of him hated that it was true, that he was capable of being so unfeeling. But she wasn’t Valeen, no one compared once he’d had her. Every other female he’d been involved with was a cold, burnt wick of a candle while Valeen was an eternal flame.

He glanced at Valeen, looking for signs of the death that stalked Varlett. The midnight-violet light down here saturated her ink-black hair and made her skin a different shade, but she hadn’t lost weight. Her face was full of life, unlike the dragon shifter. It didn’t make sense.

“If the next level is cold or hot and the other is wrath, what isthislevel?” Varlett asked.

“There is no purpose here.” He glanced about at the skeletal black trees and the bubbling tar pits. Somewhere in the underbrush, he heard the slithering of a snake. “The souls wander in this half-darkness, listening to the wailing and suffering of others in the lower levels. And the beasts keep them apart from each other so there is no companionship.” It was strange that more monsters hadn’t sought them out yet. They didn’t experience fear, per se. From what he’d witnessed they only had a need to fulfill their master’s wishes even if it put themat risk. So to smell the fallen hounds scattered about wouldn’t stave them off.

“This sounds like the worst,” Varlett whispered. “To be alone forever.”

One day, she was going to find out exactly what that felt like. He started ahead, swatting Valeen’s ass on the way by. “Have that sword at the ready, love. There will be illusions, don’t be fooled. There will be monsters, don’t hold back.” He hated and loved that she was here. Hated that he was scared to lose her to this wretched place, loved that she came down to the underrealm for him.

“How do we move through the levels?” the dragon wench asked, trailing slightly behind them. “I’m guessing there’s no stairs or signs pointing the way.”

“We must find the key to the next door,” Hel said, over his shoulder. Shadows of some terrible creature moved between the ebony tree trunks in the corners of Hel’s vision. They moved so fast he never could get a lock on one, but red eyes glowed in bushes, watching them as they passed.

Fortunately, and unfortunately, Hel knew exactly where the key was and what he must do to get it. Hel pulled a silver compass with two needles from his pocket. It was one he acquired some centuries ago after several deals with unreputable people. The shorter hand pointed in the direction of the demonic keys, and the longer was a guide to the doors. He didn’t ask where or how it was made, or how the human man from a remote realm acquired it. It was best not to know these things.

They walked for what felt like hours, being stalked but never attacked. There was no telling time down here, nothing to indicate change. The sound of fizzling water told him they were close. He slipped between two pillars of stalagmites and stopped at the edge of a tar-like shore. The lake’s surface was placideven with the shadows of souls and skeletons floating below the surface.

Valeen peered into the water. “Why are we stopping?”

Hel ground his teeth and placed the compass back in his pocket. “The key is down there.” He slipped off his cloak and hung it on the nearby stalagmite.

Her eyes widened. “In the water?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Wait.” She slid in front of him and put her hands on his chest. “You’re not going in there.”

“It’s the only way to get the key.”

Her brows furrowed and her pretty eyes pleaded. “You hate swimming, and that is,” once more she glanced down at the murky waters, “Hel, what’s in there?” He did indeed hate swimming, and she knew it was because Synick tortured him in it, drowning him over and over when he was young. He didn’t die; he was an immortal god, but it didn’t stop the panic, the passing out, the choking, the hatred of getting into bodies of water that reached over his head. But he didn’t like having a weakness or fear.

Valeen pushed Soulender into the sheath on her hip and reached for the buckle on her armor. “I’ll get it. I’m a good swimmer.”

Hel growled and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. As if he’d send his wife into putrid waters infested with the dead while he waited on the shore. “You’re not going in that fucking water. I am. Wait here, and when I surface be prepared to help pull me out.” He dropped his hand and looked across the placid black surface. “The water turns the extraordinary, ordinary.”

“What does that mean?”

“It washes away magic so I will lose mine for a time. Which means you cannot get in. We’ll need your power to survive this place.”

She frowned. “How long?”

“I don’t know. It could be hours, days, or until we leave this realm.”

“Alright.” She held his gaze and gave his hand a squeeze. “You can do this.”

He smiled and kicked off his boots. “Of course, love. I’ve done it once before. Whatever happens, do not come in this water.” Before he could think about it further, he took in a deep breath and dove headfirst. The cold was shocking, but worse, the power that hummed through his veins left like a whiff of smoke caught on the wind.

He opened his eyes, and the burn was instant. Clenching his fists he fought through the pain. He had to see to find the key. It only took a few moments to get used to the burn, and he searched for the blue-green glow the key gave off. It was faint but there, much deeper down. He kicked and drove his arms as hard as he could. The skeletons and decaying bodies floating around in a circular motion didn’t seem to notice or care he was there.